River Between the Worlds
by AWakeingDream
Summary: If you ask any of the residents of the Ark, none of them would be able to tell you exactly when or how they first saw River. As far as they're concerned, she's just always been there. Questions about her, her past, and where she came from start to rise, however, when she gets herself arrested and sent to the Ground with the 100, and she seems to know exactly what she's doing.
1. Prolog

If you'd asked anyone on the Ark how they met me, or the first time they saw me, they wouldn't be able to tell you. As far as they're concerned, I've been here all along, just like the rest of them. After all, how could an outsider possibly come onto the Ark afterwards? After the nuclear apocalypse, after the stations became the Ark, after a new age began.

In theory, it should have been impossible, shouldn't it have been?

But that's the thing about people like me.

The word "impossible" makes us laugh. Tell me something's impossible, and I'll prove you wrong. I always do. It's in my blood.

But the people of the Ark don't know that. The idea is that they never will. But I know better than that. I'm not meant for secrets, only for Hiding. So when the day that the Hiding comes to an end, all the truths will be revealed. For better or worse.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Intentionally Dropped**

"Toss that one up here," I say to Raven, the second youngest and best mechanic on the Ark. She tosses up the part in her hand, and I catch it easily in one hand, using my other hand to help hold myself in place, as I'm hanging upside down on the roof while I work on fixing a couple of the upper parts of the doors connecting two stations.

"I'll never be able to figure out how you can just hang up there like that," Raven shakes her head. The truth is that, while I'm a year younger than her, we're both equally matched in our skills in mechanics. The only thing that puts me a rank above her is that I'm flexible, agile, and small, so I can weasel my way into just about any spot. As a result, I've had to climb through air ducts, and stranger small spaces, multiple times.

"Magic," I say simply. The same thing I say whenever someone asks or wonders how I do something.

"River," a new voice says from behind us. I look over my shoulder to see Bellamy Blake looking particularly uneasy. I haven't seen the boy smile since his sister got caught and arrested, but this seems like a new level. "I need to talk to you. Alone," he adds, glancing at Raven.

"Sure," Raven says, clearly annoyed. "I'll go check for a new work order or something." She turns and walks away.

"What's up?" I ask Bellamy once she's gone. He glances around.

"Come here," Bellamy waves me down, pacing a few strides back and forth.

I sigh, "Hold on." I take a few minutes to put the part in my hand where it goes, make sure it's secure, then reattach the panel covering it all. Hopefully, that'll fix the doors. If not, I'm going to have to dig deeper to find out what else is wrong. I drop down from the wall, punching the button that should close the door. It does. So I turn to Bellamy, "What's going on? I haven't seen you this jumpy since they caught Octavia."

I remember the night they caught his secret sister perfectly. I helped keep watch as we snuck her out of their room and out into the Ark to attend the masquerade party. I'd even gotten the mask that she wore that night. When the solar flare happened and guards started checking people, there was no way out, no way for Bellamy to get his sister back to safety.

"Oh gods, don't tell me you have _another_ secret sister you're hiding, because if you do and you haven't told me, I'm going to kick your ass," I put my hands on my hips, looking up at him. Bellamy's about a foot taller than me.

"No, it's Octavia," Bellamy says quietly. "It's all of them."

"All of them who?" I ask, shaking my head slightly in confusion.

"The prisoners," he says, dropping his voice and stepping closer to me. Someone passes, and we both watch them come and go before Bellamy turns his focus back to me and continues, "They're going to send them to the Ground. Today."

"Crap," I whisper, interlacing my fingers on top of my head. I have friends who are prisoners right now. Octavia, Jasper, Monty...hell, even Finn. He screwed us all by hooking up that space walk for Raven, but even I had to admit he was trying to be a nice guy by doing it. And in the end, there's no way he could have known how detrimental it would be to the Ark. Even I wasn't supposed to know about the life support shortage. "Wait, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet," Bellamy shakes his head. "I have to get onto that dropship though, River."

"Yeah, you're not the only one," I sigh.

"What? No, there's no way you're coming," Bellamy instantly denies.

I scoff, "It's cute how you still have these moments you think you can stop me. I'm getting on that ship, Bellamy. I have more friends going down than you do, I am not letting them go down alone."

"And what do you think you can do for them, Mermaid?" he snaps, using the nickname he gave me as soon as he found out my name's River. And that was before he even found out about my fascination and near obsession with water. "You're a 15 year old mechanic."

"And you're a janitor," I shoot angrily at him.

"Trained by the guard though," he snaps right back at me. "At least I can shoot a gun. Have you ever even _held_ a gun before."

I don't answer, fuming angrily. He knows damn well I've never held a gun before. He never even let me touch his, before he was demoted as far as he could go. Finally, I ask, "If you have no intention of letting me help, what exactly are you doing here?"

"I need to know how to get onto the dropship. You know every inch of those things."

"Yeah, and there's no way to sneak on without the guard, and there will be a guard, busting you at the door. So good luck saving your little sister now," I hiss at him before turning and walking away, leaving Bellamy just standing and watching me go. We'll both get onto that drop ship. Bellamy will do whatever it takes to protect Octavia, so I'm not stupid enough to think for even a moment that he won't make it on.

Won't he be surprised when he does, and finds that I have too?

"Everything okay?" Raven asks when I find her in Mecha Station.

I nod, not speaking because whatever I said would have to be a lie. I lean against the wall near her work bench, where she's reconstructing some part that I don't bother to look too closely at. "Hey, what's the quickest way to get arrested?" I ask idly.

Raven snorts, thinking I'm joking, "Shooting the Chancellor, probably." Now there's an idea... Raven checks her watch. "I'm starving, I'm going to go grab something to eat. You coming?"

"Not today," I shake my head. Raven knows about my habit of skipping lunch - I actually very rarely eat lunch - so she doesn't protest or complain, just tells me she'll see me later and leaves me alone. I wait until she's gone, down the hall, away, and not able to see what I do or where I go.

So I leave Mecha Station and start walking. The first guard I pass, I slip his gun right out of his holster without him even noticing. I may not have held a gun before, but that doesn't mean I don't know how to work on. Or how to steal one. As I continue to walk, I glance around, making sure nobody's watching. But backs and faces are turned away as I check to see if the weapon's loaded, then slide it in between my denim overall shorts, keeping it still gripped carefully in my hand.

It doesn't take me too long to find Chancellor Jaha. He's arguing with a guard, something about his son, Wells. I don't bother listening. I just wait, lingering back a few feet, until the argument comes to a close and the guard leaves, starts walking away.

"Chancellor," I say with the mock-seriousness that I always have when greeting Chancellor Jaha.

"Hello, River," he greets, distracted and stressed. "What can I do for you?"

I shrug, leaning against the wall near him. "Nothing anymore. You know, though," I tip my head to the side slightly, "You really should have recruited me to fix the life support."

"River, we've been over this before..." he starts.

"Yeah, I know," I nod. "I'm not even supposed to know what's going on. So I can't help. But, you know, if you had recruited me to help, I'd have a reason to stay. But now," I shrug, "now I don't. So, I get to do this," I pull the gun out and point it right at him, releasing the safety catch.

"River, what are you doing?" Chancellor Jaha asks, no longer so distracted.

"Whatever it takes," I say simply. "Pulling the trigger. Literally, and figuratively. I had to go back eventually." I squeeze the trigger, and the gun goes off. I don't aim at any part of him in particular, but it doesn't really matter. I don't need to. All I need to do is fire, and I'm gone. But the bullet does hit its mark, somewhere in the Chancellor's chest. Maybe it kills him. I don't know, and I don't have time to stick around and find out. Because the guards close in on me and arrest me, and just like that, I'm headed to the Ground.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Drop Ship**

"Come on, River, wake up," a voice says, as a hand taps the side of my face. My head jerks up, my eyes opening. "There you are," Finn smiles, crouched down in front of me. "Welcome back to the world."

I blink, rubbing my eyes, as realization of what must have happened slowly rises. "They knocked me out? That's rude."

"Yeah, very," Finn chuckles.

"Get back in your seat, guys!" Clarke, daughter of the man who discovered the flaw in the life-support, says. I look around, and realize we're already in the drop ship. Almost everyone is strapped in to their seats. Except for Finn, who's holding himself in place by gripping the arms of my chair, and a few other boys who are just floating in the anti-gravity air.

Clarke, of course, goes ignored. "You okay?" Finn asks me.

"Yeah," I nod after taking a quick mental check. No pain, dizziness, or nausea though, so I must still be in one whole piece. For now. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good," Finn nods. "Now what the hell are you doing here?"

I smirk, "Come on, Finn, you didn't really think I'd let you losers have all the fun on the Ground without me, did you?"

Before Finn can respond, the TV screen on the wall flickers on and Chancellor Jaha's voice fills the room. Finn stays where he is in front of me, anchored down by his grip, but we both, along with everyone else, turn our attention to the screen.

"Prisoners of The Ark, here me now," his recorded video messages says. "You've been given a second chance, and as your Chancellor, it is my hope that you see this as not just a chance for you, but a chance for all of us, indeed for mankind itself. We have no idea what is waiting for you down there. If the odds of survival were better, we would've sent others. Frankly, we're sending you because your crimes have made you expendable."

"Your dad is a dick, Wells!" someone says.

"Wells?" I wonder, looking around. Sure enough, there he is, having gotten a seat beside his former best friend, Clarke Reynolds. No wonder the Chancellor looked so stressed before. His goody-goody son had just been arrested.

Chancellor Jaha's image continues, "Those crimes will be forgiven, your records wiped clean. The drop site has been chosen carefully. Before the last war, Mount Weather-" My head snaps up. "-was a military base built within a mountain. it was to be stocked with enough non-perishables to sustain 300 people for up to two years. Mount Weather is life. You must locate those supplies immediately. Your one responsibility is to stay alive."

The drop ship lurches violently, and Finn drops from the air, landing clumsily in front of me. I laugh, "Graceful."

"Shut up," he mutters, sitting up.

"Stay in your seats," Clarke barks out. The drop ship's still shaking, hard enough that for a split second I have the thought that it's going to shake apart. Finn keeps his grip on the arms of my seat tight enough that his knuckles are white.

"Retrorockets ought to have fired by now," Wells says.

"Okay. Everything on this ship is a hundred years old, right? Just give it a second," Clarke says, her voice shaking just slightly from her panic.

"If we die in here, just so you know, I'm totally blaming you," Finn says to me.

I snort, "Right, we're going to crash and die just because I got myself on the drop ship last minute."

"Clarke, there's something I have to tell you," Wells says from a little ways down the row and across the aisle. "I'm sorry I got your father arrested."

"Don't you talk about my father," Clarke snaps at him.

"If we don't die, I think Clarke's going to kill Wells," I comment. Finn lets out a nervous laugh. I don't think I've ever seen Finn this nervous. It's kinda funny.

"Please, I can't die knowing that you hate me," Wells pleads.

"They didn't arrest my father, Wells. They executed him. I _do_ hate you."

Before anything else can be said, the crash comes. My hands automatically snap out to grab Finn by the shoulders of his shirt to hold him in place, as people shout and scream and the drop ship lurches to such a violent stop that I would have been thrown out of my seat if I hadn't been strapped in, and Finn would have been launched away and possibly killed on impact if he wasn't gripping the arms of my seat and I wasn't gripping the shoulders of his shirt.

Then everything's silent. "Listen," a familiar voice says. "No machine hum."

"Whoa," another familiar voice says. "That's a first."

I let out a short, relieved laugh. I survived, Finn survived, Monty and Jasper survived. They don't know I'm here yet, and I don't know where Bellamy and Octavia and Murphy are, but I'm just praying that they survived too.

"You okay?" I ask Finn.

"Yeah," he says, letting out his own relieved laugh. "Come on, pixie, let's get you up." He starts to unbuckle my seat, but I slap his hands away and do it myself, making him chuckle as he stands up.

"River?" Jasper says. He and Monty are already unbuckled, and rushing over to me. I'm barely standing before I'm surrounded by the two of them hugging me.

"What are you doing here?!" Monty asks.

"Same thing you are, apparently," I grin at them both. "Scoping out the Ground."

"Whatever," Jasper shakes his head. "I'm just glad you're here."

"Yeah, totally," Monty agrees, grinning.

"The outer door is on the lower level," someone says.

"Let's get out of here," I grin at Monty, Jasper and Finn. "Let's go to the Ground."

"No, we can't just open the doors," Clarke argues as everyone moves to the lower level.

"Hey, just back it up, guys," I recognize Bellamy's voice from near the door.

I whistle, "Yo Blake!"

Bellamy looks up in surprise, and I stand on the closest seat to wave at him. His eyes are wide, but then he closes them for a second and swears, "Seriously, River?"

"Gods, don't sound so relieved I survived the crash-landing," I roll my eyes.

"Stop!" Clarke calls as Bellamy, shaking his head, turns back to the door. "The air could be toxic!"

"If the air is toxic, we're all dead anyway," Bellamy points out as I weasel my way closer to him. Finn, Jasper and Monty are right behind me.

"Bellamy?" another familiar voice says, and Octavia pushes through the crowd to appear in front of us. But she's oblivious to me right now, focused on her brother.

"My God, look how big you are," Bellamy comments, hugging his sister.

"What the hell are you wearing? A guard's uniform?" she questions, looking him up and down.

"I borrowed it to get on the drop ship." Dear gods, did he shoot someone too? "Someone has got to keep an eye on you," he chuckles. "Both of you, apparently," he casts a pointed glance at me, and I smirk.

"Oh my God, River!" Octavia swallows me in a hug next. She's only a few inches taller than me, thankfully.

"Where's your wristband?" Clarke asks.

"Do you mind?" Octavia almost snaps at her. "I haven't seen my best friend and brother in a year."

"No one has a brother," someone says.

"That's Octavia Blake, the girl they found hidden in the floor," someone else realizes.

Octavia immediately turns to lunge, but Bellamy knows his sister well, and grabs her arm to stop her before she can attack. "Octavia, Octavia, no. Let's give them something else to remember you by."

"Yeah?" she turns on him. "Like what?"

"Like being the first person on the ground in a hundred years," he throws the door open.


End file.
